Financial management information systems: the use of electronic spreadsheets in budgeting/

Abstract

The focus of this thesis is to examine the extent of electronic spreadsheet software usage in Navy budgeting; to discuss who is using electronic spreadsheets and how they are being used; and to evaluate the adequacy of spreadsheet training in the Financial Management Curriculum at the Naval Postgraduate School. Results of this study indicate that spreadsheets are used extensively by Budget Analysts at every organizational level to track and monitor vast quantities of numbers, and in an analysis of 23 spreadsheets it was found that all were designed using relatively simple formulas. This showed that the analytical capabilities of the software were not being used, suggesting that spreadsheets are being used as a labor saving device to collect, hold, and consolidate data, rather than as an analytical tool. It appears that the Financial Management curriculum at NPS is deficient in providing an adequate level of spreadsheet exposure to its students, since out of 28 required or optional courses in the Financial Management curriculum, only two used spreadsheets by design, and two others used them at the instructor's discretion.